Image by Fahmi Mubarok from Pixabay
By David Braughton
A charitable foundation administered by a longtime donor and supporter of BGR has responded to the humanitarian crises that have erupted in Sri Lanka and Myanmar with a $500,000 gift. The anonymous donor asked BGR to use the funds to aid Sri Lanka, but subsequently agreed that a portion could be used to assist people facing food shortages in neighboring countries as well.
The BGR Board and staff turned to five partner organizations that have a long history of responding to food emergencies and were already operating in the target areas. Of these, three are working in Sri Lanka: the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement; Chrysalis (an affiliate of BGR partner CARE; and the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). We are also partnering with the WFP to assist Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh, and with longtime BGR partner Action Against Hunger to assist displaced communities in Myanmar affected by hunger.
Each organization has or will receive a $100,000 grant to expand and sustain their work for what is expected to be a multiyear crisis.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948, with unprecedented levels of inflation, near-depletion of foreign exchange reserves, shortages of medical supplies, and an increase in prices of food, cooking oil, and gasoline. The crisis, which started in 2019, has been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic, political instability, and restrictions on future funding by the International Monetary Fund.
The cost of food in Sri Lanka has gone up 60 percent. A key factor in this increase was the decision by the government to ban all imports of chemical fertilizer, which had the effect of cutting local crop production of rice, grains, and vegetables in half. As a result, 70% of households have had to reduce their food consumption. Poorer households, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children under five, and older adults have been especially hard hit. Even Buddhist monks who live in remote or rural communities have not escaped the suffering caused by Sri Lanka’s economic collapse.
The number of malnourished children has risen at an alarming rate as their families struggle to provide them with adequate food and milk. Some children have been forced to drop out of school in order to work to earn money for their parents.
BGR selected three highly reputable organizations to lead its response to the Sri Lankan crisis. The first is the World Food Programme. The WFP will be using BGR funds to shore up its efforts to provide school meals to 2.4 million primary grade children, deliver emergency food assistance to 517,000 persons hardest hit by the economic and political crisis, and give vouchers to 50,000 pregnant women to support their nutritional needs.
The second partner is Sarvodaya Shramadana, a poverty alleviation movement established in 1958. In response to Sri Lanka’s worsening economy, Sarvodaya launched a program in 2022 to provide direct assistance to 500,000 of the country’s poorest families. The BGR grant has made it possible for Sarvodaya to expand its efforts. Specific programs benefiting from the BGR grant include emergency food relief, establishment of community kitchens, provision of medicine and transportation to sick individuals, meals for novice monks in monastic schools, and support for children attending school.
The third organization receiving a BGR emergency grant is Chrysalis, the Sri Lankan affiliate of CARE International, which began working in Sri Lanka in 1950. Like the other two organizations, Chrysalis is also taking a multipronged approach. With the grant from BGR, Chrysalis will promote the establishment of 500 home gardens with the gift of a starter pack containing pots, seeds, tools, compost and a watering can or hose. Another 500 families will receive cash grants of approximately $70 USD to purchase food, medicine, or medical care in the near term. Finally, an additional 500 families will receive a one-time dry ration pack to provide a sorely needed nutritional boost. Food stuffs will be sourced locally, preferably from women-owned wholesalers, in an effort to boost the local economy while empowering female business owners.
The World Food Programme and Chrysalis have both received the full $100,000 grant for immediate utilization. The grant to Sarvodaya is being spread out over two years at $50,000 per year.
The Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
Since 2017, more than 740,000 Rohingya—a Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar’s Rakhine state—have fled their native land to neighboring Bangladesh to escape persecution by the military. In the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, they live in overcrowded and squalid camps, constituting the world’s largest refugee settlement. The coup of February 2021 has dashed their hopes of returning to their homeland, as the junta has shown no interest in implementing the repatriation agreement signed with Bangladesh in 2018.
The WFP has been responding to the Bangladesh refugee crisis since August 2017. BGR gave the full grant of $100,000 to the WFP to enable the organization to continue its urgent efforts to supply basic food stuffs to some 23,600 Rohingya refugees located on Bhasan Char Island, and to support specialized nutritional foods to 8,200 pregnant and nursing women and to children 6-59 months of age. In the meantime, WFP continues to give general food assistance to Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar. The organization also operates community clinics and “integrated nutrition sites” for the residents of the camp.
Myanmar
The military coup in Myanmar in February 2021 plunged the country into a state of chaos and violence, with devastating consequences for its people and its neighbors. The coup has sparked widespread protests and resistance from various segments of the society, including ethnic minorities, civil servants, health workers, Buddhist monks and students. The junta has responded with brutal repression, killing more than 2,000 people, arresting thousands more, and shutting down the internet and media outlets.
To help address the problem of hunger within Myanmar, BGR is offering a grant of $100,000 to Action Against Hunger, a major global relief organization, to provide direct food aid and assistance to persons living in Myanmar who have been displaced or adversely impacted by the conflict in that country. The grant will be spread out over two years, at $50,000 per year.
A Final Note
This one-time gift from an anonymous donor has enabled BGR to respond to crisis in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Bangladesh in an unprecedented fashion. As a result, thousands of children and families have hope where before they knew only suffering and despair.
Additionally, BGR has allocated $300,000 from our general funds for hunger relief in the Horn of Africa, currently beset by a severe food crisis. Details about this donation will appear in the June issue of this newsletter.
If you feel inspired to join in our efforts to bring an end to hunger, please explore our website to learn more.
David Braughton is the vice-chair of Buddhist Global Relief.
